Time & Starlight
by thekingofelrey
Summary: Dana Scully is unsure of herself, always trying to balance who she should be with who she wants to be. Fox Mulder is unrelentingly who he is. Together they pursue The Truth and find each other. With midterms in-between. (Based on tumblr user punkscully's TXF College AU. Previously published on AO3.)
_Why is she nervous. There is nothing to be nervous about. Why is she nervous_. She's already gotten acquainted with the college after moving in a few days ago, having scoped out her classes and gotten everything settled. The first day is tomorrow and all she has to do now is meet with her student advisor. All entering students are assigned an advisor who is meant to guide them throughout their four years at the university. Today is only an introduction, but Dana Scully wants to make a good impression. She sits in a row of chairs outside the office, her legs crossed, a book in her lap. After the third time she realizes she has read the same line over and over again. She's a half hour early. She fast-forwards through an anxious song on her walkman.

A rush of air hits her as the weight of another person settles into the chair to her left. She glances up through heavy, side-swept bangs, to see a boy, obviously tall despite sitting down, with wire-rimmed glasses and dark messy hair. She stares at him for what feels to her like a full minute before a pause comes between songs and she realizes he is speaking to her. She rips out her left earbud and catches him mid-sentence.

"... your major?"

"What?" Dana says, louder than necessary.

"I asked you your major. My roommate has this same advisor but he's a Russian major," the boy repeats with a quiet but deep voice. "So I'm trying to figure out how they assign advisors."

"Oh! Uh, Physics."

" _Really_ ," he says, the wheels in his brain appearing to churn.

"Does that help?" Dana asks.

The boy's expression doesn't change. "No, not really." He stretches out in his seat to reach into his pocket, pulling out a bag of sunflower seeds. "You must be smart." He offers Dana the already opened bag.

She waves a hand to indicate no thank you. "Well I haven't actually gotten any grades yet."

"Come on, Physics? I'm in the lowly Liberal Arts. You're preparing to put yourself through torture with prereqs alone."

She shrugs. "What's your name?"

"Mulder."

"Mulder." She raises an eyebrow. "Just Mulder?"

"Just Mulder." He shifts his gaze to his hands.

"I'm Dana Scully, in case you were curious." When Mulder opens his mouth to apologize she cuts him off. "What's your major?"

"Psychology." He gives her a look that Dana can't quite decipher. "Don't start in telling me it's useless degree, believe me, I know. I'm already committing to grad school."

"I didn't say anything," she says, her lips forming a small smile. "I'm in the same boat, really. What good is a Bachelors in Physics? I'm Pre-Med."

Mulder's eyebrows shoot up, forming his first discernible facial expression. "So not only are you wicked smart, you're a doctor. Dana Scully, M.D." He pops a sunflower seed. "Color me impressed, Doctor."

"One day," she says, smiling wider. A girl with corkscrew hair walks out of the office then, the door closing behind her and she makes her way down the hall. "You could be a doctor, too, you know, if you get your Ph.D."

"The last thing I want is to be a shrink." He pours a few more seeds into his palm and replaces the rolled up bag in his pocket. "They'll suck the life out of you. I got other plans," he says with a wink.

In the moment Dana takes to form her next question, Mulder asks his own. "Dr. Scully, tell me - do you believe in the existence of extraterrestrials?" His tone almost makes it sound like a joke, but Dana senses he is serious.

"Um," her eyes dart around as she considers her response to such an odd question. "Logically, I would have to say no."

Mulder smiles like he expected such an answer, and before he can say anything else, the office door opens and a bald man with round glasses pokes his head out. "Fox," the man says to no one in particular, causing Mulder to look up suddenly. "Fox Mulder."

Dana's smile turns sly and she mouths, "Fox?" at Mulder, who responds with a grimace before standing. "Professor Skinner," he says, entering the office, and soon Dana is left alone again.

She doesn't bother at another attempt to read her book. She puts her hand over her mouth in an attempt to wipe the smile off her face, but succeeds only in smearing her dark red lipstick. By the time she's finished correcting and reapplying it, Mulder exits the office.

"See you around, Dr. Scully," he says as he walks past her.

"For sure, Fox."

He turns on his heel, continuing to walk backwards. "Come on, even my parents call me Mulder." He turns back around to face the direction in which he walks. "Skinner's ready for you, by the way," he calls over his shoulder.

* * *

It doesn't take long for their paths to cross again. Turns out they live on the same floor of the same building - the Honors dorm. Mulder had failed to show up to previous Get-to-Know-You floor events, so it's a surprise to Dana when she sees him at a party hosted by in the room of another boy, Jeff, who's already established himself as the most popular kid of their group.

She shows up late, having dedicated the earlier evening hours to finishing the week's homework, to find Mulder surrounded by their drunken floormates, who are all laughing though he doesn't join them. He's wearing what can only be described as a nerd sweater beneath a denim jacket decorated with pins that read "The Truth is Out There" and "Trust No1."

Dana approaches the group, hidden from Mulder's view thanks to being several inches shorter than even Timothy, a boy of five foot three.

Jeff's voice breaks through the laughter. "You can always count on Spooky Mulder for entertainment." The laughter increases at the nickname, and thinking back on Mulder's question about extraterrestrials, Dana thinks the name might be fitting. She considers laughing to join in with the group, but the look on Mulder's face indicates she shouldn't. "Spooky, tell them about your Big Foot theory."

Dana detects a flash of defiance in Mulder's eyes. "Which one?"

When the laughter picks up again Dana wedges herself between Jeff and another boy. "This guy can't be serious!" someone exclaims. Dana can't exactly figure out why she feels a certain protectiveness over a guy who's a solid foot taller than her, a guy she's met once, briefly, but she knows she doesn't him to be the butt of a joke. "Hi, Mulder. Would you mind helping me with something?" Mulder's eyes soften when they meet hers.

The boy to her right whispers, "I'll help you out, honey," and she resists stomping his foot with her combat boot. She grabs Mulder by the wrist and pulls him through the crowd, then the room, out into the hall.

"Dr. Scully," he says after the music is turned up in their wake. "I had a feeling I'd see you again."

"What was going on in there, Mulder?"

"Oh, I was just telling my friends about alien abductions."

Mulder's voice is so monotone, she can't be sure if he's being sarcastic or dead serious. "They didn't sound very friendly ... Maybe that's not the best topic of conversation to have with a bunch of Know-It-Alls and wannabe frat boys."

Mulder grins. "You don't have to look at me like some kind of wounded puppy; I'm well-aware they were making fun of me." Dana is relieved but confused. Mulder picks up on that. "I'll take any opportunity to educate the masses, I can handle some gentle bullying." He pulls out a card with a magnetic strip out of his back pocket. "Anyway, what I was really after was this."

Scully runs her tongue along her back teeth. "Okay, what is it?"

"It's a key. One that'll gain us access to the office of the most powerful man on campus. My old pal Jeffrey was clever enough to steal it from his father but not enough not to brag about it."

"Jeff's father ... is President Kersh?"

Mulder puts a hand on Dana's back, leading the way to the stairwell. She's curious enough to let him. "Despite popular belief, Kersh is not actually the most powerful man on campus. No, the guy I'm after is Associate Dean Spender. Or as I affectionately call him, Cancer Man."

"How exactly is an associate dean more powerful than a university president?" They begin making their way down the stairs.

"The university power structure, similar to that of the United States Government, is a facade. Believe me, Spender's the guy."

The pair step out into the cool September night air. "That's your theory."

"It's no theory, Dr. Scully. Up for some late night sleuthing?"

"Mulder...," she begins, but she can't deny her interest is piqued. She sighs. "What are you even trying to find? Unauthorized allocation of tuition funds?"

"While that would be rightfully scandalous, I'm looking for something a little more insidious."

Dana struggles to keep up with Mulder's long strides as they make their way across campus. "And what's that?"

He looks back at her and slows his pace down just enough. "I have reason to believe Spender is involved in a deep-seated and far-reaching government conspiracy involving a cover-up of the existence of extraterrestrials."

Dana stops in her tracks and Mulder continues on a few more steps before realizing and stopping himself. He turns to face her. "What?"

She eyes Mulder's pins again. "You really believe in aliens, then?"

"Of course. You're a scientist, right, Doctor? You can't really believe we're alone in this universe?"

"While yes, I agree that there is the potential for life on other planets in other galaxies, what you're talking about is ... a little science-fiction, don't you think?"

"No."

She sighs again, rubbing her arms. "Let's say you're right, that there are little green men in flying saucers somewhere out there, what does the government have to do with that? Not to mention - what does a college dean have to do with the government?"

Mulder's face brightens and Dana gets the feeling that not many people humor his ideas long enough to engage him in such a conversation. "That's just it," he says, "Spender's a lot more than just some college dean. I admit I don't know - I don't know exactly what he is, but I know for a fact that he's a key player in this conspiracy."

Dana joins Mulder again in their walk. "Where is all this coming from? You must know this is more than just a little out there."

Mulder removes his jacket and hands it to her. She accepts it wordlessly and puts it on, grateful for the extra protection against the brisk wind. "I called Jeffrey an old friend, right? I wasn't kidding. His father used to be a friend of my parents."

"Used to be."

"They had a falling out, _much_ to my dismay. I knew the guy was weird, even as a kid. And a couple months ago I found a bunch of old boxes of my father's in the attic of our summer house. My father has an important position at the State Department, and he used to work with Spender. In these boxes there were pictures, pictures of Spender in the 1950s at the military base in Roswell, New Mexico." He waits as if expecting a reaction from Dana before continuing. "And there were all kinds of notes, files even, signed off on by Spender - he was involved in Operation Paperclip, and not the one you learned about in American History 301. They were collecting information about people, _genetic_ information."

"I'm failing to see what that has to do with aliens."

It's Mulder's turn to sigh. "You'll have to trust me."

Dana purses her lips, pointing to the Trust No1 pin on her borrowed jacket.

"See, you're already learning something."

They arrive at a brick-facade apartment building at the edge of campus and Mulder leads the way downstairs.

"Have you spoken to your father about what you found? Maybe he has a reasonable explanation?"

Mulder stifles a laugh. "My father won't speak to me about any of this stuff, I learned that a long time ago."

"One more question before we go breaking and entering into this man's office ... don't you think Jeff is gonna notice the keycard is missing? And that Dean Spender is gonna notice the keycard is missing?"

"I am way ahead of you, Dr. Scully," he says, stopping outside a basement-level door. He knocks on it twice quickly, pauses a moment, and knocks three more times.

A guy with thick black-rimmed glasses and scraggly blond hair - like some kind of Wayne's World ripoff - opens the door. "Muldo! Welcome!" He spots Dana. "And you brought a lady, that's risky - be careful around Frohike. Come in."

Mulder looks back at Dana, absorbing her baffled expression. "I _do_ have a few friends around here."

Dana steps into the room, which looks like some kind of media office, and takes in the sight of two equally odd-looking students to the first.

"Meet Langly, Frohike, and Byers," Mulder says, "The editors of your campus's most favorite zine, _The Lone Gunmen_. Gunmen, meet Dr. Dana Scully."

"Enchanté," the wiry-haired one, Frohike, says, lightly kissing the back of her hand before she promptly removes it from his grasp.

"Apologies for this one," says Byers, who somehow dresses in even dorkier sweaters than Mulder. "Nice to meet you, Dana."

She gives them a tight-lipped smile and turns to Mulder to silently ask what they're doing here.

"Got the keycard," he says, handing it to Langly. "You guys can really copy this?"

"Absolutely," Langly says. "We've been waiting to put this encoder to good use." He motions to a bulky piece of equipment at the back of the room.

"Of course, if Associate Dean Spender sees that anything in his office is amiss, he'll be quick to have a new one made," Byers says.

"We just need the one shot," Mulder says. "For now."

Dana takes the seat Frohike offers her, wondering just what she's really gotten herself into. Thank God she finished her homework at the very least.

* * *

They're deep into the early morning hours by the time the Gunmen are finished copying the card, and they elect Frohike to take the original back to Jeff's dorm, for which Dana is grateful. Langly accompanies her and Mulder to Spender's office to work as a lookout while Byers remains at the Lone Gunman office in case they end up needing an alibi. The rational side of Dana is beyond anxious thinking about the potential trouble they could all get in - her father would surely disown her if she got expelled from college - but she can't help the thrill that travels up her spine as Mulder slides the card through and the lock flashes green. Langly shoots them a confident thumbs up and they make their way inside the faculty building.

Mulder is silent, so she is, too, taking the opportunity to notice how strangely advanced the technology of the building seems to be. Especially for a university that's been cutting majors left and right as a result of budget cuts.

Mulder follows a handwritten map that Byers gave him and after climbing several flights of stairs they arrive at an office with no nameplate. He raises his eyebrows at Dana as if to ask, "Ready?" She replies with a nod and Mulder slides the card slowly through the lock. She holds her breath until the light flashes green and they're in.

They are accosted with the lingering smell of stale smoke and Dana gags a little. Cigarette smoke is only good when you're the one smoking them.

Mulder clears his throat. "He's called Cancer Man for a reason."

"So again," Dana whispers, "what exactly are we looking for?"

"You'll know it when you see it. Start with the filing cabinets. I'll search the desk."

She has no idea what that means, but opens a cabinet as slowly and quietly as possible while Mulder nosily disturbs Associate Dean Spender's desktop. With a flashlight poised in one hand, she carefully flips through a variety of student files that don't look particularly out of the ordinary for a college dean's office. She finds one labeled Jeffrey Spender and reaches for it before stopping herself. This is definitely some kind of federal crime, stealing student records. In the name of what? Some crazy, possibly drunk, alien boy she's humoring? A wave of regret washes over her as she considers the ridiculous situation she's allowed herself to get swallowed up in.

"Look at this," Mulder says, his voice cutting into her anxious thought pattern. "Dr. Scully, look at this!" He slams a thick file on the desktop and Dana squints through the darkness to read the name Fox Mulder, followed by a file number. Her heart rate picks up. "This file's got everything on me." He flips through the pages and Dana notices a series of psychological reports between school records and recommendation letters.

Her eyes widen at one particular document. "You won the Presidential Scholarship?" she nearly shouts, clamping a hand over her mouth for a moment. "They only give that to one student every year ... what did you do that I didn't? What were your SAT scores?"

Mulder tugs a document out of the file and hands it to her.

"1550?!" Dana had only scored a 1480 herself and despite her personal disappointment in not achieving perfection, she knew objectively it was a great score. "You are kinda spooky, Mulder ..."

Mulder ignores her, preoccupied. "He has another drawer here, but it's locked, I need another key." He continues to flip through the file while Dana stands over his shoulder, trying not to read any more private information.

A shrill ring slices through the silence and Dana jumps about half a foot. "Shit," Mulder says," pulling out his beeper. "It's Langly, something's up. Let's go."

Dana resists the urge to cross herself as they hurry out of the office and down the hall to the back stairwell. As they rush down the steps Dana swears she hears another pair of footsteps that do not belong to them. Outside the second floor, she grabs Mulder by the back of his sweater, springing him backwards. "Shh!"

Mulder's eyes widen when he hears the steps and he opens the door to the second floor, pulling it closed behind Dana. They watch the light of a flashlight illuminate the small door window and wait for the sound of footsteps to become distant before they run to the staircase on the other side of the building.

When they make it outside, a previously unlit streetlamp shines brightly through the dark and Langly is nowhere to be found. The file is firmly in Mulder's grasp.

"Mulder!" Dana says, still in a harsh whisper. "Why didn't you leave it behind!"

"Would it be any less obvious if I left it splayed out there on the desk? At least now I can read it and try to piece together what Spender's up to."

Dana shakes her head and waves her arms in a windshield wiper motion. "Forget it, let's just get out of here before we're arrested."

Mulder nods and they take off across the still campus toward the Honors dorm.

* * *

Outside Dana's room, Mulder leans against the wall, a shit-eating grin on his face and Dana runs her hands through her hair, calming her frazzled nerves.

"What the hell are you smiling about, Mulder? Spender's gonna know we were in his office, we are fucked." She shakes his jacket off, suddenly hot.

"But that was a lot of fun, wasn't it, Dr. Scully? How often you do anything like that? You'd make a good UFO hunter, ya know. Little legs but they can really move."

She almost laughs. Almost. "Can we cool it with the Dr. Scully stuff? I haven't even completed my residency."

Mulder does laugh. "Dr. Scully can joke around." She shoots him a pointed look. "All right, so just Scully then?"

 _Scully_. She fingers the choker around her neck, just one of many aspects of her new look that her parents disapprove of. "Why do you have to wear all the black junk?" her father often said to her when she adopted the style toward the end of high school. Scully seemed to fit in a way her given name didn't anymore. Dana was not the type of person to break into a college faculty's office to steal files. Dana did not hang around zine editors or boys with creepy alien conspiracy theories. But here she was.

"Okay, sure. Scully," she says, careful not to let on that she actually liked the sound of it.

"All right, Scully. I look forward to many a nightly rendezvous with you." He waves at her with the file.

"Mulder, I am _not_ breaking any more laws, and - before you ask, I'm not hunting UFOs."

"We'll see." He smiles a small smile. "Good night, Scully." He begins the walk down the hall to his own room, tossing the jacket over his shoulder.

"Hey, wait!" Dana's - Scully's - voice is louder than she intends, and Mulder spins around to face her. "Your parents don't really call you Mulder?"

He shrugs. "Well, they ought to."

Scully slips into her room and goes to bed without even washing the makeup off her face.


End file.
